


just call me

by paulwasgay7



Category: The Beatles (Band)
Genre: Dhani Harrison - Freeform, Friar Park, George's house, John Lennon - Freeform, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26395294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paulwasgay7/pseuds/paulwasgay7
Summary: George and Paul talk about life, death, and everything in between while sitting under a tree, and watching Dhani play.
Kudos: 6





	just call me

Paul’s hand shook as he reached up for the doorbell, clicking it once and then remembering you had to hold it for it to ring. He hasn’t been to George’s in some time. 

He can hear a few voices and some footsteps. “Ello?” The voice says without opening the door. He must be just as paranoid. 

“Hey George, it’s Paul,” He can feel George biting his lip. 

“Um, yeah one second,” George unlocks the door and opens it slowly. George’s shirt and pants are covered in dirt indicating that he was just outside in the garden. 

“Hi,” George said. Paul smiled. 

“Hello, how are you?” Paul feels his face burning up. 

“Not so bad, what about you?” George’s accent is still peeling through, reminding Paul more and more about things. The Beatles, the records, John. 

“I’m alright, could be better y’know?” George nods, knowing what he means. 

“I would say ‘were you in the neighborhood’ but, it takes a while to get out here,” Paul chuckles. 

“Yeah I just wanted to say hi,” Paul almost expects George to slam the door in his face, but he doesn’t. 

“You wanna come in? Oliva’s in the kitchen,” Paul shakes his head. 

“No, I-I shouldn’t-”

“But you came all this way,” George is remarkably calm since the last time he saw him. Well, years can change a person and a death could make it worse. The pit in Paul’s stomach grew, knowing full well that George would be happy to send him right away. 

“Uh I-sure,” George smiled and opened the door wider for Paul to walk in. The first thing he noticed of George’s house was that it was very warm and tidy. Books stacked neatly on shelves and floors clean and open. He wished he could say the same about his house, Linda does most of the cleaning while Paul just stays up in his room fiddling with his guitar. 

“Your house looks nice,” 

“Thanks,” Paul follows George through the house, aweing silently at the little nick nacks and pictures on the hallways. He feels so fucking shy even though he’s supposed to be nine months older. He’s supposed to make George shy, not the other way around. 

“Hey Liv,” George kisses her head. “Look who’s here,” Olivia looks up and smiles. 

“Hi Paul, I haven’t seen you in a while,” Paul smiles. 

“Yeah, it’s good to see you,” They hug, and that’s when Paul realizes he hasn’t even hugged George yet. 

Paul does his round of smiling and small laughing until he follows George outside. He feels like a fucking kid again. And not in that ‘I feel alive’ sense, in the sense of a lone teenager at his parent’s friend’s party. 

“I was just out in the garden,” George finally points out. 

“Yeah, I can see that,” Paul wants him to laugh. 

They sit under the shade of a tree, George way more relaxed than Paul. George has his eyes closed and his back against it while Paul is sitting up straight and wide awake. He hasn’t slept in days if he’s being honest. 

He watches the grass move softly back and forth with the light breeze, and the shadows of the leaves are almost relaxing. 

“How’s Linda and the kids?” George asks his voice as soft as the grass. Paul is pulled out of his trance and he snaps his head to look at George. 

“She’s-they’re good, Heather’s going to college,” George raises his eyebrows. 

“Already?” Paul smiles and nods. 

“Yeah, and James is learning how to talk already,” George blows out a breath. 

“Jesus,” Paul ponders for a moment. 

“You-You’ve never met him, have you?” George opens his eyes again and shakes his head. Paul nods. “You should, you’d like him,” George sits up straight. 

“How’s Dhani?” Paul asks, wanting the guilt to be off of him. 

“Why don’t you ask him?” George points to a small boy with a blue shirt and grey shorts. 

“I didn’t even see him,” He giggles as Dhani spins around. George combs his fingers through the grass like hair, working on all the knots. 

“Paul?” Paul raises his head. “Why are you here?” Paul’s cheeks flush. 

“To say hello,” George chuckles. 

“You’ve got a wife and four kids, what have I got?” Paul shrugs. 

“A wife and one?” Paul chuckles. George sighs. 

“Just call me, I don’t get why you can’t do that,” Paul shivers. He doesn’t like answering phones, not after what happened. 

“I’m sorry George, I will next time,” George laughs at that. 

“There’s not gonna be a next time, you know that better than anyone,” Paul’s eyes widened. 

“What, you're not gonna invite me anymore?” George sighs. 

“It’s not me Paul, it’s you,” 

“What?” George lifts his head up and leans against the tree. 

“You only ever come over when something public happens, you don’t ever come over just to come over,” Paul stays silent. “Whenever something happens, you come to me to tell you that you’re alright and that you’re stable-”

“That’s not true,”

“The hell it isn’t, in ‘74 when I was getting sued and your name got thrown in a paper you came over to tell me you weren’t doing anything with me,” 

“I wanted to clear things up-”

“Over the phone Paul! You could’ve called to tell me you were coming, but you didn’t. You brought your stupid camera crew to my house and said you had nothing to do with me,” 

“Look, I’m sorry George but I didn’t come over for anything like that-” George makes a clicking sound and shakes his head. 

“You only ever come over when something happens and you know it. You came over here today because you want me to tell you that everything’s gonna be alright and that we’re just gonna forget about this. But the moment you leave today I won’t see you for the next ten years until something else happens. That’s why you’re here Paul,” Paul shakes his head. 

“That’s not-Geo!” Paul grips his head. “You-You’re wrong!” Paul wipes his eyes. George looks down at his hands. 

“You think that I’m heartless and that I don’t care but I do Paul. I loved him just as much as you did and I’m not saying to just forget about it but,” 

Paul shakes his head. “I-I don’t know what to do, I can’t sleep or eat or-”

“See! You’re doing it right now!” Paul shudders. “You can’t just expect people to feel sorry for you, you’re not a bloody child,” 

Paul rubs his arm. “So you’re telling me just to shut up about it and pretend that it never happened-”

“No Paul, you can’t forget something like this but you also can’t feel bad about yourself,” Paul nods. 

“I can do what you do y’know. I can go on the telly and cry about how we fought till the very end and I never got to say sorry. I could do that. But I don’t, because I love him too much to do that,” 

“I know,” George puts his head against the tree and closes his eyes. 

“Just call me, you-you never could’ve called me? Through all those years?” Paul shrugs. 

“I didn’t know what you would’ve said,” 

“I would’ve said, ‘Hi, how are you?’ and you would say the same and we would talk-we could’ve talked,” Paul tries to be calm and he tries to breathe. 

“Then I’ll call you next time,” George shrugged his shoulders, something a teenage Paul would find as a threat or a sign of a fight but now it was just:

‘Ok,’ 

“Y’know we should, we should get together,” George looks up. “You me and Rings, and we could write something,” 

“Mhm, I saw that on a magazine already Paul,” George puts his head back. Paul sighs and nods. 

“Tell me why I’m here,” Paul says. “If you’re so smart, and-and you think you know then tell me,”

“I already have-”

“Yeah but it’s not true!” George sighs. 

“You’re here because you want someone to tell you that-”

“No! Why am I here? Why am I with you, my best fucking mate? I have a wife and four kids like you said so why am I here with you?” George looked him dead in the eye. 

“Cause you’re scared I’m gonna leave,” George said plainly. Paul hadn’t realized that he was squeezing George’s arm, and George didn’t seem to care. 

“You think I wasn’t scared for you when he died? You think I didn’t want to run over and hug you?” Paul tilts his head. George takes a breath and sighs. 

“Come over, when you want to come over. If you wanna clear things up, or-or do a stupid ring up interview then call me. And now that I say that you won’t ever come over because you never want to come over,” 

“There’s only three of us left-”

“That’s not it Paul. It’s always been this way, John or not you never come over. This isn’t about him, it’s never been about him it’s been about you. You can come over, and have dinner and see my kid and play guitar but you don’t,” Paul tightens his grip on George’s arm. 

“You never come over either-”

“Yeah cause I don’t want to, simple as that,” George moves his arm from his knee to the grass, closer to Paul. 

“Why? What’s wrong with my house?” 

“Nothing, it’s you. You see me as this little kid who can’t take care of himself. And you’re too scared to realize that I’m okay. I’m okay with my life, and just because John’s gone doesn’t mean you have to rush over here and pretend like you care and that you’ll get your name in the paper saying ‘Macca comforts Harrison.’” 

Paul sulks and he doesn’t think he’s ever felt so low. 

“Everyone does shitty things Paul, and just because you come over once every twenty years doesn’t make you a fucking saint,” 

“I know, and I’m sorry that’s all I can say,” George sighs. 

“I never got to say sorry, think about that for just a second before you make a sucker out of yourself. I never got closure,” 

It was silent after that, the only sounds were Dhani’s laughing and the small birds up in the trees. Paul let go of his hand. 

“Dad!” Dhani rushed over and fell down beside him. “Look,” He handed him a flower. George smiled and picked him up. He sat him in his lap and twirled the flower between his fingers. 

“Very nice Dhan, should we give it to Paul?” Paul looked up at the sound of his name. Dhani nodded, and George handed the flower to Paul. 

“Thank you Dhani,” Dhani got distracted by something else and ran after it. Leaving Paul and George alone. “He’s really sweet,” Paul wiped his eyes and twirled the flower. 

“I know,” Paul chuckled. 

“Y’know most parents say ‘thank you,’” George raised his eyebrow. 

“Why would I say that?” 

“Cause y’know, you raised him to be sweet,” George scoffs. 

“I’m not gonna say thank you like he’s a piece of furniture,” Paul sighed. 

“Can I just ask what he was like? Before he-y’know?” George took pity on him. 

“He was fine, he was running around the house doing chores,” Paul smiled. 

“Anything else?” George scratched his head. 

“I-I don’t know Paul, it wasn’t like he was sick or anything, he was fine,” 

Paul leaned back against the tree now touching shoulder to shoulder with George. 

“I don’t wanna talk about him y’know?” Paul nodded. “We always talk about him, always have,” Paul opened his eyes. 

“How do you mean?” George lowered his gaze. 

“Whenever we were alone and we weren’t talking about the new album, it was John this and John that. We never just talked,” Paul scoffed. 

“Oh so I never come over and I never talk to you?” George nodded. 

“Yeah, that’s right,” Paul crossed his arms and watched Dhani picking up George’s cat. 

“And you never came over,” George mumbled. 

“I came over!” 

“You only ever did when you and Jane got into a fight, and only if John wasn’t home you would stay over. I only ever saw you then and in the studio. But you and John were always together and that’s not fair,” 

Paul started to shake. “We used to be friends,” Paul whispered. 

“You can’t expect me to be your friend if you won’t even try,” Paul put his head in his hands. 

“What about school then? All those bus rides and classes? All of them for what then?” George shook his head. 

“I’m not your best friend Paul, you need to get that. John, he was your best friend and now that he’s gone you can’t just come over and say I’m him now,” Paul wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. 

“But you are-”

“Dhani,” George pointed at him. “Dhani’s my best friend, I only have one. You understand now?” Paul sighed. 

“But you’ve always been my mate. Ever since I met you on the bus,” 

“We were fourteen, I was your laughing stock that you could make fun of and feel cool and now that John isn’t laughing at me with you, you come over. And it’s not fair that you can’t accept that I am fine,” Paul shook his head and grabbed George’s arm again. George didn’t even flinch. 

“George please,” Paul was out of breath. “Please don’t do this,” 

“Do what Paul?” Paul put his head on his shoulder. “When I go, who’s gonna be next? Who are you gonna go cry to, about how you can’t sleep or can’t eat?” Paul shrugged. 

“I don’t have anyone else, Linda doesn’t understand and I’m not gonna cry to my kids,” 

“Exactly, you have to move on. As hard as it may be, you need to,” 

“I can’t, it’s like he’s everywhere-”

“Remember when Mary died, after three months you weren’t crying, it’s almost been a year Paul,” Paul shook his head. 

“Cause I could fake it, I can’t do that now-how do you do it?” George sighed. 

“I do it, because I have to do it,” Paul let out a shaky breath. “You said it yourself, remember? Just let it be,” Paul tightened his grip. 

“I don’t know what you want from me,” Paul said. 

“I want you to be okay, I want you to not need me,” 

“That’s hard-”

“It isn’t, I figured out I was gonna be left alone when I was fifteen. I’ve gotten used to being forgotten so just do it again. I’ll be fine,” Paul looked up at him. 

“I didn’t know you felt that way, I’m sorry,” George nodded. 

“I know, I’m sorry I’m being such a jerk,” 

“You aren’t, I’m making this difficult,” George chuckled. 

“You can say that again,” Paul slapped him on the arm. The laughter died down and soon Paul let go of his arm again. 

“I should go,” George watched him stand up. 

“Alright, I’ll talk to you later,” Paul nodded. 

“Yeah, I’ll call you,” George stood up too and brushed himself off. George walked him to the door. “Thanks for having me,” George smirked. 

“No problem,” Paul walked to his car but then turned around and walked back. George stayed still as Paul wrapped his arms around him and buried his head in the crook of George’s neck. It took George a few seconds to process it, but then he slowly wrapped his arms back around him. 

That’s when Paul realized it wasn’t just the first time they hugged that day, it was the first time they hugged in ten years. 

“I love you,” George opened his eyes. 

“I know Paul,” George was the first to let go, and then Paul. Paul walked down the pathway to his car and opened the door. 

“I’ll call you,” George nodded. 

George was surprised when he did get a call from him the next morning. Paul was happier and all the kids took their rounds saying hi and George got to talk with Linda. 

And after all of it, Paul got handed back the phone. 

“We’re running to town but, I’ll call you tomorrow?” George smiled. 

“Yeah, sounds good,” 

“Great! Bye George,”

“Bye P-” Paul hung up. George smirked and shook his head at the phone, he would get him back eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!


End file.
